Hayley Dodd accused doesn't want jury

The man accused of murdering West Australian teenage girl Hayley Dodd 18 years ago wants to avoid facing a jury and is seeking a judge-alone trial.

The disappearance of Dodd is one of the state's most infamous cold cases.

Francis John Wark, 59, appeared in the Supreme Court of WA on Monday via video from prison and only spoke to say "yes" to confirm his name and that he understood what would happen before he faced trial.

He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering 17-year-old Dodd, who was last seen alive walking along a road near Badgingarra, 200km north of Perth, on July 29, 1999.

Wark lived about one kilometre away at the time.

He was not charged until December 2015 when he was transferred back to Western Australia from a Queensland prison, where he was serving a sentence on unrelated matters.

His barrister Darryl Ryan indicated he would apply for a judge-alone trial and still needed time to brief a DNA expert.